The 5 J's Went Back to Disney 5/23-6/4 *UPDATE 9/21!*DAY 4: MGM/LTT/MK EMH/Lotsa pics

[jenr812]

Table of Contents:
Wednesday, May 23: Travel Day! - This post! Scroll down!
Wednesday, May 23: Travel Day! Part 2: Flying luggage? Oh my! - page 2, post 19
Thursday, May 24: Animal Kingdom morning with lots of pics - page 4, post 54
Thursday, May 24: MGM afternoon, SciFi dinner - page 7, post 98
Friday, May 25: Epcot all day, grumpy boys, girl time, LeCellier, 40 pics - page 10, posts 146-147
Friday, May 25: I found BONUS pics!! (taken by Jessica!) - page 11, post 160
Saturday, May 26: Magic Kingdom morning, Kona Cafe dinner, TONS of pics - page 11, posts 161-163
Sunday, May 27: MGM morning, Liberty Tree Tavern dinner, MK EMH, and loads of pics, of course! - page 12, posts 178-180


Wednesday, May 23: Travel Day!

OMGosh the day finally arrived! What a crazy morning but it was all so worth it.

WAIT!

Let’s back up just a minute to re-introduce the cast of characters for those who are just joining us. I’ll even throw in some NEW pics from the over 2000 we took in Disney!

Jennifer (that’s me!): 33 year old SAHM and newly graduated nurse! I will be taking my boards very soon and then I will start working in the NICU (special care nursery), my DREAM JOB! Can life get any sweeter? Sure it can! Someday, I’ll be a NICU nurse at Arnold Palmer Hospital for children so I can live near Disneyworld After my kids are grown of course! BTW, I don’t wear makeup in Disney. Just wanted to warn you!

Jeff (DH): 32 year old who isn’t nearly as Disney obsessed as I am, but he thoroughly loves the Disney magic. He goes along with my extensive plans (“whatever you want, honey”), which makes him pretty darn smart in my book! He has even agreed to buy into DVC!!!!!!!! More on that later…

Jessica (DD13): Loves Piglet, hanging out with friends, giggling about boys (much to DH’s dismay!), and doing typical teenage stuff. Shares a love of all things Disney with me and would be a perfect companion on a girls-only trip someday. Has more attitude than she knows what to do with and it gets her in trouble sometimes. It doesn’t help matters that she is my virtual twin – we butt heads because of it LOL But she is my angel, through and through. And a beautiful one if I do say so myself!

Jayden (DS8): Loves skateboarding, sports, and being outside. He loves fast rides and is willing to try just about anything. Still gets into the Disney magic and has a fantastic grin when he allows himself to smile naturally. He acts goofy and is a self-admitted class clown (though he loves school and does quite well). He suffers from CVS (cyclic vomiting syndrome) and severe migraines. Thankfully, he had no flare ups on our trip! He’s already a “tween” in so many ways - he wants to grow up, but also wants to be my baby bear forever. He really came out of his shell on this trip – more on that later.

Jory (DS4): Full of spunk and love. He looks entirely innocent, which can be deceptive, especially in those moments after he’s whomped on his brother with a good punch or two. He loves “Dizzyworld” and tries so hard to be a big boy to keep up with Jayden. He is excited to be 5 in August, but he is ambivalent about starting Kindergarten. Some days it is all he can talk about, and other days he insists that he does NOT want to go and would rather remain in preschool. He is completely in love with Mommy, to a fault. We wonder if he will ever love anyone like he loves his Mommy. That's ok with me though.

***EDITED 6/16/07: I should add that this vacation was to celebrate my graduation from nursing school!! I found the DIS in 2004, shortly before starting school, and I was HOOKED instantly. This was supposed to be our first Disney trip, but in 2005, we received an infamous postcard rate with an offer we couldn't refuse. That of course did not take the place of the already pre-planned graduation trip. Confused? Good!***

OK now that the intros are out of the way and I’ve given you some pretty pictures, on with the show. Where were we? Oh, yes…

Wednesday, May 23: Travel Day!

Got up at 6am to get the kids off to school. Thankfully, it wasn’t my turn for carpool for Jayden OR Jessica, so that was very nice! We were using my MIL’s minivan (God bless her!) and we’d done “the switch” Tuesday night. We’d attached the hard cartop carrier to the luggage rack, loaded it up, and packed everything in the van in an attempt to make Wednesday morning less stressful (yea, right!).

I took Jory to his end of the year picnic while Jeff took care of last minute details, like packing the cooler full of drinks and doing one final search for the MIA Tevas. We never did find those Teva sandals by the way. Very strange.

Jory had fun at his picnic, and fully relished in the joy of boasting to EVERYONE, and I do mean EVERYONE, that he was “driving to Dizzyworld today!!” I have a feeling that some moms were a bit ticked off at me (and can you blame them? How can they top that? Sorry!!) but it was all in good fun. It was all I could do not to continually check to see if my cell phone was on, as I waited impatiently for Jessica to call. As soon as she was finished with that last exam, we were hitting the road!! I finally got that blessed phone call, and we were outta there!!

Swung by Jayden’s school to get him, stopped at Jessica’s school to get her, and peeled into our driveway as if I’d taken a box of Ex-Lax and they were suddenly kicking in. Seriously, we were on the road within 15 minutes of my skidmarks hitting the driveway.

Hmmm.

That didn’t sound quite right.

Anyway…

Travel day was pretty boring, as can be expected. That is, until we heard an eerie SNAP! Jeff and I looked at each other and then looked in the rear view mirrors. Was that our cartop carrier and luggage flying down the highway behind us?



OK, I realize that for those who've followed my pre-trippie, this is such a tease and I'm sorry. I'll be back with more very soon, though. I had to leave you with some suspense, of course!

 

[timandlesley]

YEAH!!!!!!!! It has officially started!!!!! I can't wait for more. Weird my Myspace comments didn't come up, I'll have to PM you my questions today- they were based on your pictures posted on Myspace (I was worried about Coral Reef comments since that is where we are having my b-day dinner) also excited about Kona since you said it was the best meal, and other random comments, I'll PM you so I don't ruin this thread .
WELCOME HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lesley

 

[srandsr76]

Cannot wait to read more!! LUGGAGE flying down the road!!!!!!

 

[IluvXU]

DVC- you lucky duck! Can't wait for more.

 

[jbmom]

Great start! Nice cliffhanger. I've been waiting to hear about that for a while now.

 

[MomofCKJ]

Signing up for the ride! Sounds like it is going to be a great one, luggage flying down the road? Oh my nightmare!

Allyson

 

[fterie4u]

Welcome back! I am SO looking forward to you TR! I am happy to hear you took so many pictures, can't wait to see them!

 

[Avivasmom]

Come on do not keep us in suspnese for to long!!!!!

 

[Disneyolic]

Woohoo! I love signing up for TRs that are brand spankin' new!

 

[jwwi]

just subscribing, can't wait to hear all about your trip. Take your time, returning from a vacation is stressful. LOL

 

[jenr812]

YEAH!!!!!!!! It has officially started!!!!! I can't wait for more. Weird my Myspace comments didn't come up, I'll have to PM you my questions today- they were based on your pictures posted on Myspace (I was worried about Coral Reef comments since that is where we are having my b-day dinner) also excited about Kona since you said it was the best meal, and other random comments, I'll PM you so I don't ruin this thread .
WELCOME HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lesley

Sometimes myspace can be a little touchy Thanks for the hearty welcome home!

Cannot wait to read more!! LUGGAGE flying down the road!!!!!!

Glad to have you aboard

DVC- you lucky duck! Can't wait for more.

Soon!

Great start! Nice cliffhanger. I've been waiting to hear about that for a while now.

Thanks

Signing up for the ride! Sounds like it is going to be a great one, luggage flying down the road? Oh my nightmare!

Allyson

Nightmare is right! It's all good though. Glad to have you along!

Welcome back! I am SO looking forward to you TR! I am happy to hear you took so many pictures, can't wait to see them!

Thank you It took me two full days to unload all those pics I still can't believe how many there are. I should have bought another scrapbook.

Come on do not keep us in suspnese for to long!!!!!

Sorry! I'll try to speed it up a bit. For some reason the kids keep asking for food and clean clothes so it's slowing me down.

Woohoo! I love signing up for TRs that are brand spankin' new!

Yay!

just subscribing, can't wait to hear all about your trip. Take your time, returning from a vacation is stressful. LOL

Stressful, depressing, sad...

 

[jenr812]

I started the second installmant, but it's taking me longer than I would like. I'm slowly getting back into the swing of things. Jess and Jayden were with my MIL for a few nights (Jory only spent one night and that was too long away from mommy for his liking!). So Jory and I have been hanging out - boy he keeps me busy! All my kids are home now - can you hear the dissention already? I can I sure missed them when they were gone, but good gracious, can they act civil to each other? I wish we were back in Disney. They still had their moments on vacation, but for the most part, things were much better than the normal sibling rivalry and bickering.

I just kicked them outside for some "quality time" together and we're going to play Disney Scene It in an hour or so. I just wanted to hop on here and reply to all my wonderful visitors. I am amazed at the number of views compared to posts. COME OUT, LURKERS!!! I don't bite (hard).

 

[kribit]

YAY! Can't wait to read...

 

[Lan]

I can't believe you are making us wait

 

[pooksma]

OK I'm hooked. More ASAP!

 

[flafan]

LURKER JUMPING ABOARD HERE:

I am so looking forward to your report, we are going next year same time and my 2 kids will be the same age as your oldest and youngest.

Please include details about the weather, crowds, love bugs (if any). Not that I am asking much.

 

[dreamsofdisney]

Connecticut transplant from the Rochester, NY area (1 hr from Buffalo) signing in and anxiously awaiting another installment. And more fantastic photos!

 

[jenr812]

YAY! Can't wait to read...

I finally have a new installment!

I can't believe you are making us wait

Sowwy! It's here, it's here!

OK I'm hooked. More ASAP!

Your wish is granted - with pictures!

LURKER JUMPING ABOARD HERE:

I am so looking forward to your report, we are going next year same time and my 2 kids will be the same age as your oldest and youngest.

Please include details about the weather, crowds, love bugs (if any). Not that I am asking much.

How fun! Great ages, huh? Hopefully you'll get lots of good info and insight from my TR!

Connecticut transplant from the Rochester, NY area (1 hr from Buffalo) signing in and anxiously awaiting another installment. And more fantastic photos!

Welcome! Glad you're here!

 

[jenr812]

As I was continuing my first installment, I realized I was wrong about something I previously posted. It slipped my mind that Jayden was sick sick sick that week and missed his 23, 24, and 25th days of school (including that last day of school/travel day!), so I *didn’t* swing by his school to get him. Sorry for that confusion! I knew something sounded a bit “off”. Jeff did take him in to say goodbye to his friends and teacher and pick up all his stuff, though, while I was with Jory at the picnic. I just wanted to be sure to clear that up.

So yea, Jayden was really sick. Not a fun way to start a roadtrip to Disney. Not to mention that I was sick, too. We were both on antibiotics, though his was the yummy, pink, bubblegum-flavored kind, and mine was the huge, white, bitter horsepill kind. I asked him if he wanted to trade, but he wasn’t having it. We drugged him up every 6 hours around the clock with berry-flavored motrin to keep his fever at bay and PRAYED fervently that he wouldn’t get a migraine. So far, so good. The motrin kept him comfortable for a few hours at a time.

He does look a little drugged, though, huh?

So about that luggage…

We spent the car ride from SC to FL watching Disney DVDs and playing the license plate game with the kids. As much fun as you can have in a minivan. We were all getting excited because we realized we were ALMOST TO DISNEYWORLD!! Looking at my map, I estimated we had about an hour to go. Woohoo! Mickey, here we come!

So, we’re happily cruising down the highway, elated that we were going to totally beat our travel time from 2005 (we got stuck for hours in horrid Jacksonville traffic), when we hear that fateful SNAP! I cannot even begin to describe how strange it felt to watch in shock as our cartop slid down the highway behind us. I also cannot even begin to IMAGINE how horrific it must have been for the vehicles behind us to watch the cartop slide off of our vehicle and toward theirs!!!

Fortunately, there were no vehicles directly behind us, but traffic was moving really fast, and soon another minivan was forced to swerve out of our lane into the next. They narrowly avoided colliding with the cartop, which at this point was still intact.

The next minivan was not so lucky.

They were directly behind minivan #1, and as soon as minivan #1 was out of their way, minivan #2 didn’t have as much time to react once they saw the cartop careening toward them. They swerved, but their driver side front wheel ran over the cartop, and their vehicle came EXTREMELY CLOSE to flipping over. That was scary to watch!

The cartop was damaged at this point, obviously, but the two impacts finally sent it flying off the road safely (?) into the median area. Our luggage had flown out all over the highway with that second impact and was run over by one or two other vehicles before coming to rest in the median area (or close to it in the left lane).

All of this happened in less than a minute’s time.

Jeff recovered from his shock more quickly than I did (good thing, too, since he was the one driving!), and he pulled onto the median area. We had been traveling @ 85 mph in the very left lane, by the way. He quickly but carefully backed up to where our cartop and luggage lay. Minivan #2 looked as though they were going to stop, but after slowing down and pulling toward the median area, they just took off.

Jeff got out to assess the damage and instructed the rest of us to stay in the car. After I watched him in the rearview mirror for a minute, I instructed the KIDS to stay in the car, and I climbed out the driver’s side to help him. All of our BRAND NEW luggage was destroyed, including poor Jory’s hot wheels luggage (his pride and joy – the kid took that thing EVERYWHERE – to T-ball games, school, grandma’s He’s handling it pretty well, though!). We just grabbed everything and tossed it in the minivan. We had decided to take out one of the seats in the back and leave it home, since we only needed seats for three back there, and it would give the kids more space – thank God for that wise decision! I don’t think everything would have fit if it had been in there!

God definitely had His angels behind us on the highway. NO ONE was injured, amazingly, and our clothes were fine, save for some minor road wear! I had packed most of the boys' outfits in ziploc baggies, and I think that helped, because their suitcase was hit the worst, with Jeff's and mine a close second. It could have been so much worse, in many ways, and I am thankful. I don't even want to think about what would have happened if it had caused a wreck and/or people (us or others) had been injured.

We left the cartop there on the grassy median, of course. It didn’t even occur to me to take a picture at the time, though I’m kicking myself now. What a scrapbook page! I did take a pic of the luggage after we unpacked it (that pic’s still on my camera but I’ll add it here later). It was just so unbelievable (still is!). Within 5 minutes, we were back on the road, and 5 minutes later, it started to POUR! We laughed at our good fortune – it REALLY would have SUCKED to have that happen in the pouring rain.

We pulled into the Disney area 45 minutes later, around 8:45pm, and we were all chattering excitedly. I had this huge grin on my face – couldn’t help it. I was HOME!!! It made me so happy. When we pulled into Port Orleans, Riverside, (7 hours and 45 minutes travel time!) my heart skipped a beat. When we parked the van, I got out, took a deep breath, and just stared for a moment. Then we rushed inside to check in!!

We were assigned to room 2557 (We were given a choice of a few buildings. This one was close to a bus stop (west) and quiet pool with no parking lot view rooms). We were famished, so he headed to the POR food court for dinner. No pics, as we were all about eating and getting to our room. Sorry! Jess and I both ordered from the pasta bar – delish. I got penne pasta with alfredo sauce, shrimp, and a bunch of veggies. The broccoli tasted “off” but everything else was amazing. It is served with a large, crusty breadstick. The kids all got Mickey head straws (only 49 cents!). We got them last time and I made the mistake of throwing them in the dishwasher. Let’s just say that Mickey was unrecognizable after that! I don’t recommend it. The guys got burgers, IIRC, and they enjoyed them.

It kinda sucked as we lugged our now wheel-less luggage to building 25 (second floor!). We had so been looking forward to using our nice, brand spanking new luggage with smooth-rolling wheels. *sigh* LOL Like I said, it could have been worse, and we didn’t dwell on it. But it was hard not to notice it! The luggage was heavy.

The room looked exactly as we remembered from last time – so cozy! I wanted to take more pics of the room, but it seems I never really had the chance before we all fell exhausted into bed each night. Here it is one afternoon with our blankets and friends piled up.

And one with my cuties, for good measure!

We quickly unpacked and settled into our beds. DH and I in one bed, Jess and Jayden in the other, and Jory on the trundle. We were looking forward to an early morning at Animal Kingdom!

 

[timandlesley]

OMG!!!!!!!! I felt like I was there with the way you described it- you are right, you had an army of angels protecting you and others that day. I am so glad everything was alright and your contents of the luggage were intact at least - wow!
Can't wait for more.
Lesley